Galicia

Galicia is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain, located north of Portugal, west of Asturias and Castile and Leon, and south and east of the Atlantic Ocean. The region was named for the Gallaeci people; its name is not related to the name of Eastern Galicia in Ukraine, which was named for the Kaliz branch of the Khazars. The region was conquered by the Roman Empire in 19 BC, and the region was conquered by the Suebi in 410, the Visigoths in 585, the Umayyad Caliphate in 718, and the Kingdom of Asturias in 740. Afterwards, it was ruled by several different Spanish kingdoms, at times being united with other kingdoms under personal union or being its own independent nation. From the 16th century to 1833, Galicia had its own government, but it was divided into smaller provinecs in 1833 and fully incorporated into the rest of Spain. In 1936, Galicia was granted autonomy due to its unique culture and history, but Galician culture was suppressed under the Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco. In 1981, after Franco's downfall, Galicia was once more granted autonomy, and it had its own affiliate branches of the major Spanish parties. Today, Galicia's capital is A Coruna, and it had a population of 2,718,525 people in 2016.